Michelle Toro (née Williams; born January 2, 1991) is a Canadian competition swimmer who specializes in the freestyle in the sprint distances. She won a gold medal in the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

in the 4 x 100 m freestyle and in the 4 x 100 m medley relay. She also won a bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 4 x 100 m freestyle. She competed as part of Canada's Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics, commonly known as Rio 2016. Williams would help fellow Canadians

Taylor Ruck Taylor Madison Ruck (born May 28, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She won two Olympic bronze medals as part of Canada's women's 4×100 metre and 4×200 metre freestyle relay teams at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Ruck wo ...

, Chantal van Landeghem and Sandrine Mainville in the women's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay heats, with the team swimming the third fastest time. She then had to make way for teenage star Penelope Oleksiak in the final, where Oleksiak helped anchor the team to the bronze medal. In an interview after the event, Williams said "we've come a long way, this group of us. It's our medal and it's our medal for Canada, it's just so amazing."

Personal

Williams was born in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and speaks fluent

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

alongside

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, she often goes back to South Africa to visit her family in

Jeffreys Bay Jeffreys Bay ( af, Jeffreysbaai, nicknamed J-bay) is a town of 27,107 inhabitants as of the 2011 census in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It Is the seat of the Kouga municipality and is famous amongst surfers as a surf capital due ...

. In December 2016, shortly after the Short Course World Swimming Championships, she married her childhood teammate Billy Toro. They met when she was 12 and he was 14 at the North York Aquatic Club and started dating six years later.

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* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Toro, Michelle 1991 births Living people Canadian female freestyle swimmers Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Pretoria Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Pan American Games medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Personal

See also

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